To Give
by Ano Sa
Summary: To take. It's coming back to her now. nonexistant NaruSaku


Disclaimer: I own Naruto.

­**Nothing Will Last**

By Ano Sa

What I would give you-rubies and diamonds; blood and tears.

Nothing that will last.

She was spinning, whirling, flying over the rough earth. Sometimes it felt like she could touch the ground, stretching to do so. Her knees were grazing over the grass; her hands leaned to feel the morning dew. Here and there, she was smiling to be so free, feeling blessed to be touched by the rising sun.

Sakura felt winded after her early exercises. There was a healthy glow behind the grime and dirt that streaked her skin. Courses of sweat ran tracks down her face, collecting on her upper lips and neck. She felt the dampness of her back and armpits and was satisfied with her work. Hardly work now, as she was, to be lost in motion and dizziness, forgetting the aching of bones, sleepiness, and the half-forming bruises. Running became flying, kicks became flashes of light, and her punches and flying kunai were put to use, creating a stop in time for her. And now, feeling the intensity of sun drying her sweat, Sakura was returning to the dimension where she belonged, where time ran hurriedly, with no sympathy or thought.

Sakura walked past the field where she stood. Her left hand caressed a particularly painful bruise on her right arm, just below her elbow. It was a long gash that drove deep into her skin and had sputtered blood as she washed it with water and healed it lightly. There was only a slight squeezing of eyebrows to show that the wound hurts her now. Sakura could not keep her hand away from that wound; she constantly poking and touching. Besides that there was a slight limp to her right leg, caused from a misplaced explosion note that sent a splinter of metal into her calf. Sakura had forgotten to bring her medical supply and now she was paying the price for it.

Walking past the gates of her enclosure, her path winded down a long yellow dirt road. Soon the emptiness of her landscape turned into inns, restaurants, and vendors. A little further along, she was greeting by the towering, twisting, bizarre architecture that formed the inner heart of her beloved village. By now Sakura winced as she walked, careful to avoid the curious, sleep-glazed eyes of passers-by. She looked ahead; a bizarre yellow storm was raging towards her.

"Ssssssssaaaakkkuraaaaaaaaaa!" the dust settled into the shape of a long-legged man. He panted at running so fast, the whiskers on his cheeks twisted with his heavy breathing. Naruto scrunched up his face at Sakura, "Aaaah, Sakura! Where were you?"

"Good morning to you too." Sakura smiled at him, covering her arm wound and straightening her posture.

"Good morning!" Naruto was stunned by her smile and forgot his question to walk casually by her, hands stuffed in his pants. "Sakura, the Hokage wants you. You know how she never wakes before nine?"

Sakura nodded.

"Well, today I was planning to -umm- get her back for assigning a team to me and well when I was sneaking into her office she found me. Sakura, she didn't even bash me in the head! You know like she always does. She just told me to find you."

Her smile faded quickly.

"Sakura, I think she wants to reinstate you."

Reinstate her. Sakura cracked a joking smile at that. Thirteen years had past while she worked as a lowly doctor in the Konoha hospital. There was not a sign of them; the ones they thought would come to take revenge. Thirteen years since he died. Thirteen years since she could not openly use her deadly arts. Thirteen, what an ironic number, the kami must be laughing at this joke. Sakura's stoic eyes belied her mind, she felt like she was ripping at seams, bursting to laugh out loud.

Naruto must have felt an inkling of what Sakura was thinking, because he stopped abruptly to turn around, facing Sakura. "Sakura, she means no harm. All of us would have done the same being put in her position. All we were trying to do was to protect you. Since Akatsuki had been destroyed we felt safer to let you out."

Sakura smiled up at him. "I know." Her sweet smile unsettled him.

"Well- alright. Sakura, I bet she'll promote you right away to medical jounin. Won't that be awesome? You might even work on my team."

"Hah, we'll see."

"I'm a hard taskmaster. You better be prepared to fight and heal for your life!"

"We'll see." Sakura's smile lasted, her eyes shaded by her hair. Naruto, his mind too fleeting to evaluate his discomfort, was attached with the dream of Sakura and him working side by side, laughing and enjoying the fight.

Their walk took them past Sakura's home. Sakura didn't bother to look inside as she knew no one was in. Who knew Itachi was so sentimental; if Sasuke died, it would be by no hands but his. Sakura stumbled; her legs didn't seem to want to work. Fortunately Naruto was walking confidently ahead, head in the clouds. Her eyes strayed past the closed shutters and the dying sunflowers in window boxes. Home to her was not a place where she lived. Soon, their pace left her house in the background.

She waved to Ino, working at her flower shop, to Hinata and Shino, walking away for training. She passed by countless faces of the thickening streets. Most eyes carefully glanced away, focusing beyond her. Before she had raged, how it wasn't her choice that it shouldn't matter. Sakura had gotten used to this, used to how much of a ghost she seemed. She walked silently, lost in her thoughts, as Naruto grew silent before her. She will probably have at most twelve patients today, and then she can go buy Ino's birthday present. Then...she could...Well, Sakura didn't have much to do these days.

"Sakura...Sakura?"

She looked up, abruptly stopping before Naruto. "Hmm?" She looked beyond him to the building of the Konoha administrative building. She smiled wider, "Guess I didn't notice."

Naruto rolled his eyes and kneeled down. Sakura stepped away, wary of his actions. He gently put a single hand over her calf; there was a soft orange glow as his chakra healed her wound. Sakura stood still and she bit her lips. She hadn't noticed Naruto glancing at her walking. Perhaps she had taken Naruto for granted this time. Naruto straightened; he took her by the hand and straightened her arm. There was a withdraw of breath to see her wound, though he just as firmly sealed her skin and made it whole. "Sakura, you should be gentler with yourself."

Sakura said. "Alright."

Naruto, pushing Sakura toward the door, smiled. "Take care."

Sakura pushed open the door, feeling the cold air rush out. She walked by people gathering in circles, arguing and laughing over assignments. Rarely were there the white and black of the Anbu uniform. Most of these shinobi were young, far younger than Sakura. She felt the presence of war here as much as she did in the hospital, tending to half-fledged teenagers. Akatsuki was hardly honorable enough to spare the young.

She climbed the two sets of stairs that led to Hokage's office. Nodding to Shizune, Sakura stepped carefully into the Hokage's office.

"Sakura," Tsunade had cleared her desk. It was the first time since Sakura seen its cherry oak surface. Around and over towered the paperwork of the Hokage's efforts. The light from the window illuminated Tsunade's clothing, as if she was some goddess of completed dreams. "How are you?"

"Fine as ever. And you?"

"Good, good." Tsunade made a motion as if she was shuffling paper. Then realizing that she had no paper on her desk, she folded her hands into her robe. "Well, I have called you here for business. Since Konoha has been able to stop the Akatsuki rebels and their alliance among certain hidden villages and has indicted their members, include one Uchiha Itachi, the counsel feels no need to place you on assignment hiatus." She drew a Konoha hitae-ate and placed it on the desk.

Noticing Sakura's remote face and static motion, she hurried on. "Because of Uchiha Itachi's horrendous act in killing the Haruno clan and your own connection to Uchiha Sasuke, the counsel with my permission grants you blood right. All other claimants had forfeited when they learned the details. Should you choose to claim this blood right, you have the permission to kill Uchiha Itachi in the manner you choose, with my blessing."

Sakura's face didn't change.

"Sakura...Sakura?"

"Come on, come on. I feel him near us," Naruto whispered closely behind him.

Sakura huffed and puffed as she jumped over the landscape. Her entire body shook with the effort. The first chance they could, Sakura and Naruto escaped from Konoha village. Fifteen years old and they were already named as missing nin. And they were always running. Away from them and toward him. It was hard on Sakura to always be on the move. Her body was only meant for short missions and for healing. She hasn't done much of that lately. All the time free from binding obligations, they were constantly searching for him.

Not that it was hard. Remnants of villages and constant missing personnel followed in a trail across the continent. But it was in trailing him, through forests, guarded by unknowns, and through deserts, full of sun and sand, that was hard. It almost seemed as he was flying, cruising and crushing lives. What he left was nothing that she could heal.

Sakura increased her speed. This time, this time she would get him. There was a great flame in her lungs, consuming and shortening her breath. Her hands touched passing trees in a blur, scraping along rough bark surfaces. She could feel the texture of the leaves, nuts, and trees under the worn scrape that was her sandals. Only five month since they started to search for him, only five and they have found him. She knew to others, this was impossibility. To her and certainly to Naruto, this was a bit too late. They didn't know how long he could resist the curse seal, but they didn't think it would wait almost three years for them.

Naruto stopped ahead, he was always ahead. Turning he stared at Sakura intently. "We got him. He's just ahead."

Sakura nodded, too winded for speech. Kami, her body hurt all over, as if kunai was stabbing her in the liver. She wasn't meant for ten day runs; awake sleeping, and fast eating. And now she had to deal with this. They waited a few moments to still their rushed breathing and gather strength. Sakura looked down. Damn that son of a bitch. She's gonna kill him; kill him if he couldn't be saved. Kill him for protecting her, from leaving her, from taking her life away. He didn't know, stupid asshole, that binds sometimes were found in desolate places, in between indifference and hurt. Bitch, dumbass, fuckwit, idiot, her mind fumbled to curse creatively.

She glanced up to Naruto. He was resting alongside a tall beech tree. He had his eyes closed, and there were flashes of white teeth behind his vehement smile. Knowing Naruto, he was probably dreaming of the fight; he and Sasuke clashing in thunders of red and blue, moving in the beautiful process of killing each other.

"I hope he'll come back," Naruto had caught Sakura staring. She nodded. "I hope he's grown up, remember something else besides the bad parts."

Sakura nodded again, too unsure of her voice.

"I hope one of us won't have to die."

She nodded.

"Let's go."

She moved.

"Why me?" Sakura said.

The Hokage started, "I--- "

"Is this some kind of joke?"

Tsunade scrunched up her eyebrows, creating a temporary storm across her eternally beautiful face. "We never meant it as a joke."

"You stripped me of my rank, forced me to practice in secrecy, to never use my powers. Made me work in a hospital, alongside patients who could be healed if I ---- but I couldn't and I had to watch most die. And now you want me to kill him? It seems complete doesn't it? For me to kill the last two?"

"We thought you suffered the most from his actions. It was never meant to hurt you. I thought you would be pleased."

Sakura smiled sadly. Her hair floated around her as she shook her head. "I'm never happy to see dead people. Worse if I have to kill them."

Tsunade waited a moment. "Then you can forfeit too and the counsel will take care of him."

"No."

"I thought you didn't want to claim it?" Sakura was more and more of a conundrum to Tsunade with every passing month. It didn't seem so long ago when they were working together, teacher and student, on increasing Sakura's stamina, preciseness, and emotional strength. Now looking at Sakura, the sharp curves of her face, Tsunade felt like her age beneath the genjutsu mask.

"No," Sakura repeated, her eyes were distant, moving over the passing flickers of her life. There was laughter, joy, pain, wonder, and loneliness behind her glaze, a thousand miles from where she stood now. Her feet were planted on the wooden floor, but she felt herself shifting to each deep emotion of her past. "I want----"

Naruto went in first. "Hey bastard."

Sasuke was sitting under a tree. His hands were casually slung over his folded knees. The falling leaves blended with his dark hair, obscuring his eyes. The crunch, crunch, crunching of leaves under Naruto's closing heavy footsteps did not make him move. He seemed almost dead, sitting impassively, seemingly ignorant of their presence. Sakura's face shook as she stood still in the tall tree overlooking the clearing. She crouched down on one knee on the tree branch, not feeling the surface digging in her skin, to look closer at him.

He seemed older, his lips pulled into an unwavering line. She drew back as he slowly stood up, unfolding long limbs. He looked so much like a wavering shadow under the dark canopy. Sakura noted his lean body; malnutrition was something all of them shared. There was a slight trembling about the hands; fatigue from controlling the curse seal. He had no scars on his body. His skills have no doubly grown. There were dark circles under his eyes, insomnia. He had given up his old clothing for longer pants and hid his neck in bandages.

"Naruto," now Sasuke acknowledged him with a nod. "I've been waiting for you."

"Aa," Naruto agreed.

"There's something I want from you."

Mangekyou Sharingan. The Tsukiyomi. Sakura tightened her grip on the tree. He was going to kill Naruto. Damn, damn, no, no. Not if she can help it.

"Sasuke please. We're friends. Don't leave us here," Naruto implored, pleading one last time.

"I can't- you and Sakura-," Sasuke acknowledged her. "-became missing nin for me."

Sakura and Naruto nodded.

"Let me kill you as so," Sasuke said.

Sakura closed her eyes. There was a silence that permeated the surrounding. She opened her eyes to see a passing leaf drift by. They stood in silence, tensing for movement. The leaf twirled in an ecstasy of dance, jerking in the wind. Sakura felt the silence spread, it was a bubble in time for them, Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura, standing at a junction. Here and together at the beginning and end. The leaf touched ground as Naruto moved.

"I want him to live."

"What?"

"I want you to suck every choice out of him, to bind and destroy his power, to render his Sharingan useless. I want him to be imprisoned somewhere, held so that he can not escape, can not kill himself.

"That will cost too much money."

"I want him to regret his actions, because despite how much of a cold bastard he was, the constant interminable rush of people and their joys, happiness, tears, and love around him, where he can not touch, will break him down.

"Why?"

"I want him suffer as I have done, to feel like an animal."

"Sakura."

"Because as you should know, as every shinobi should learn dying is something so much easier than living."

"Sakura..."

"Yes, I want him to live everyday with the consequences of what he had done, face everyday with the monster he is inside. Tsunade, I want to give him life."

She was such a stranger to Tsunade.

Naruto and Sasuke moved in a wind of taijutsu. Naruto back-kicked Sasuke, who jumped upon the tree surface. Naruto tore the tree up and Sasuke flipped away, spinning shurikens at Naruto. He warded them off with sheer chakra and with a single hand touching the ground, blew up the earth and leaves below Sasuke. Too fast, Sasuke disappeared in the storm. At the same time, hidden explosive tags erupted around Naruto.

Sakura looked from above at the vanished figures. She knew both were still alive, as their chakra pulsed strong in her view. It would take longer to see who was stronger. But now she had a job to do. Her hands formed symbols, dragon, ram, tiger, snake...strands of chakra spun from her, too thin to be noticed they ran toward the sky. As she closed her eyes to concentrate on her arduous task, the storm calmed below.

The two boys found each other a tough opponent. They looked at each other warily, assessing each other's strengths and weaknesses.

Naruto disappeared and now there were several of him standing around. Not bothering to waste breathe talking, Sasuke launched a fire attack, streaming long flames in several directions. Naruto had improved his coordination and all clones but one survived the attack. Behind the flames though hid kunai that pierced the heart of two Narutos. Cursing for forgetting to look for traps, the orange-clad figures faded into the surrounding.

Sasuke activated his sharingan, teeth tightly clenched against the powerful rush of the curse seal. He searched quickly. His eyes looked through shrubs and trees, locating Naruto's creations. He had gotten good at using Kage Bushin, Sasuke could hardly tell one from another. But ah...the demon's chakra could not be missed, located at the belly point of Naruto, hanging high in the tree above Sasuke. Smiling suddenly, vicious and egotistically, Sasuke ended his draining sharingan and in junction with his flurried hands, several Sasuke appeared. He directed them to hunt down Naruto, while he leaped away to kill a Naruto clone.

Hearing the pop of disappearing shapes, Sasuke knew Naruto now to be smooth and efficient. He leaped across to accost Naruto. He had already dispatched all of Sasuke's clones.

Perching high above, Sasuke gathered energy for chidori. Naruto felt the rising level of chakra and found Sasuke's eyes with his sharp gaze. Sasuke was startled to see his red eyes, but maintained his poised stance. And when he saw the tainted chakra rise about his right hand, he dove down toward his target.

With a feral smile, Naruto hunched over. In Sasuke's eyes all he saw was red and black before he was shoved away, pushed with a crack back into a tree. Where the uneven surface of the tree pushed into Sasuke, blood spurted out. His vision flashed black and white as he saw the shallow wounds along Naruto's body healed. He pushed himself up, working against the pain, and checked his body for damages.

Sasuke moved his head around and froze, seeing Sakura a tree across. She sat there limply, leaning against the tree. Sakura looked pale, almost as she was dying.

Naruto leaped on the branch behind him. Sasuke froze and with quick motion he gathered Sakura up, startled at her chilled skin. He turned around, hands supporting her waist and knees. "Stop."

Naruto stopped. His eyes burned into Sasuke.

"Heh. Your ultimate weakness," Sasuke adjusted her against his left shoulder. "Step down."

Naruto dropped to the ground and moved toward the center of the clearing. "Don't hurt her."

Sasuke followed him down. He gently propped Sakura up. Looking at her by him, he said, "I could never hurt her."

"Why'd you leave then?" Naruto replied, voice hinting at sarcasm.

"You know, once I though we were practically alike. You and me, orphans and alone. I had strength and stoicism to hold me up, you had smiles and confidence. I'd watch you track your way home alone and would always be reminded of my own situation. That's why I became your sort of friend, to see how you can endure it as I could never have done." Sasuke looked at Naruto. "But it was never that way. You had practically nothing to endure. You don't remember anything about the death of your parents; never missed the relatives that once surrounded you. You had power, so much power it's disgusting. And I had nothing comes the end of the day. Nobody can live on nothing. It wasn't a choice for me, to stay and die."

"So you chose to corrupt yourself and be a puppet for Orochimaru," Naruto sneered.

"It's still better than being nothing," Sasuke said, face impassive.

"It's evil and disgusting, power isn't life," Naruto retorted, his fist tightening and his face distorting.

"Naruto, Naruto. You've live so one-side-ly. The world and life itself can't exist without darkness and all light. I just chose to be on the other side. When we die, our body will turn to dust, and there will be no evil or good left of us, just decaying bodies."

"You and your twisted philosophy," Naruto made a move to step forward. Sasuke drew out a kunai and make a motion as if to cut Sakura's throat.

"And I'll only be helping Sakura by sending her from this hell."

Perhaps from the cold way in which Sasuke said the sentence, Sakura woke up from her undreaming sleep. She saw the lights glinting on Sasuke's kunai and looked up, face pale, to see Sasuke's face. Almost in a daze she turned to see Naruto, feral and violent looking. Her limp hands went to reach forward, as if she could, beyond any doubt, touch Naruto. "Give me a bit more, a bit so I'll be finished," Sakura whispered, sure that Naruto's heightened hearing would hear her.

Naruto glanced, mind moving fast, between Sakura and Sasuke. He shook his head at Sakura. Sasuke looked at Naruto, the only uneasiness was in the tightening grip he had on Sakura.

"Please..." Sakura said again. She was entirely chakra-depleted and she could barely feel the ground below her. Her hands brushed the pockets at her hips and she gently nudged a shuriken out. When it was at her hand, she tightened her hold, feeling the pricks as the edges drew blood. She glanced at Naruto, noticing how tense he was.

With a sudden twist, she drew the shuriken up, tearing Sasuke of his kunai with a blade edge. Sakura almost fell as she threw herself forward, trying to escape Sasuke's hold. But Sasuke had already recovered from the surprise and he grabbed her by the hair, jerking her back while driving the kunai into her side. She fell, screaming onto the ground, more from the torn out hair than the deep numbing that spread through her left ribs.

Naruto had moved too; he torn towards Sasuke and, just before Sakura collapsed, threw a fist that knocked Sasuke back. Having now secured Sakura in his own range, Naruto formed the tell-tale sign of the Rasengan. He swept toward Sasuke; a tooth bared, and eyes a frightening shade of red.

"No..." Sakura shouted from her position on the ground. "Don't! My jutsu. Stop!"

But like a wind that could not be stopped, Naruto concentrated on his target and surged on through, the earth imploding with his hit.

Sasuke dodged at the last moment, propelled up by the force of Naruto's blow to the earth. As he soared higher into the sky, he activated the jutsu he had copied from Naruto before, making the earth implode under Naruto. Just swiftly he launched a chidori, this time with the full of force of his curse seal. Its darkness swept across his face and skin, covering him in madness and hatred.

Naruto dropped like a fallen bird, blood gushing out of his stomach. Sakura had crouched down to avoid the blood that rained over ground. She convulsed, feeling the pulse of Sasuke's tainted chakra and fell, dry-heaving. She heard the thud as Naruto's body landed.

"Naruto..." Sakura whispered. The crimson color of blood blinded her. There was so much of it, around and on him. There was a black hole above his waist where the chidori had gone through. His eyes lied closed over pale cheeks dotted with the red color of life. His body was laid out limply, face loosely turned toward her. She looked away. She had never seen Naruto in such a state. He looked so much like a torn doll, so lifeless.

What was this? Her fifth, five hundredth, five thousandth time she was in this position? Where she was protected and could not help out? Where she could only watch from a low place the friends that would die to save her? And now Naruto, the only one that tried to understand her. He was too taken away. The grief and tears in her eyes made her unaware of the stirring of demon chakra in Naruto, slowly mending his wounds, and of the approaching steps of Sasuke, assured and steady.

She was lifted to her feet by cruel fingers. One hand captured her hands, holding them in a tight embrace. The other held her by the neck. Kneeling before Sasuke's presence, Sakura was forced to look up by the painful pushing of his hands. Sasuke's eyes, rings of concentric circles of black and white, appeared in her gaze. She gasped at the streaked hair, the grotesque wings, and his twisted face, and was held in place only by the intensity of his hold on her neck and hands.

"I don't appear so beautiful anymore. Do I? Your love is nothing, admiration for nothing. You don't love this, do you? Do you?" Sasuke was mad, face twisted with fury and grief.

Sakura could not answer.

Sasuke laughed, hollow and raw. "I knew it, I've always knew it. Weak. You've never craved power, even seeing how hurt everyone is around you. Never wanted to protect did you? Only to be protected. To be frail and be loved by some dashing prince."

Sakura could only draw back from his looming face. She glanced around frantically, calling silently for Naruto to rise and save her.

"Never ever ever," Sasuke whispered. "I am strong, I will be stronger, and I will not be yours!"

Sakura looked up, shuddering at how his face appeared so dark, dark as emptiness with smiling teeth. "I just wanted you to come back."

"Come back to what? No one can stand me."

"Kakashi, me, and-Naruto-"

"Naruto's dead," Sasuke's low voice made Sakura want to flee.

Her eyes slid to the form of Naruto's body. Kami, she hurt. Remembering how Sasuke was the one that told her Naruto saved her from Gaara while she was unconscious. Remembering the training she took, the sleepless studying, and the tiring healing for this moment. And Naruto was gone and she was a moment from dead. "I've been trying so hard-"

"You lie so much," Sasuke tensed one hand, constricting Sakura's throat until she was gasping for breathe. "What do you know about working hard?"

"Sh--ut...up," Sakura choked out, almost crying.

Sasuke relaxed his hold in surprise. "What?"

"I've worked harder than you. I didn't run away." Sakura gasped. She couldn't stand this, him putting her down now. Sasuke was searching her face, wondering why she was retaliating now.

"I didn't run away. I ran toward something. And you are here, still weak. Do you want to die so badly to go chasing after me?"

"Never." Her whole body was tired. It seemed that even keeping her eyes open was a chore. But she wasn't ready to die. Not now, not in front of him.

"But you'll have to anyway, Sakura."

"NO."

"Sakura..."

Sakura stepped back, leaving Tsunade in contemplation. She retraced her steps down the stairs and opened the door to outside. There was an icy left-over chill on her skin, a wooziness of the head to meet the heated air. She barely noticed Naruto joining her outside.

"Are you alright?" Naruto asked her.

"Yeah Naruto. Come on," Sakura turned and picked up his hand. "Let's go."

"What did Tsunade say?" Naruto tugged Sakura back from running.

Sakura turned to Naruto, questioning with narrowed eyes. "You knew she was going to ask me."

"I- yeah...I was one of the claimants. I forfeited." Naruto looked everywhere but at her.

"Well. Whatever. It's over."

Sakura tugged whatever chakra was left in her body, feeling the cold seeping into her extremities.

"I think I could have loved you," Sasuke looked at her sentimentally.

She must've had a dazed look in her eyes, because jutsu without the use of hands to balance chakra was impossible to people that had no finesse in control.

"I can already feel you dying. Your chakra level is depleting fast. Your hands are so cold." He commented to her.

She channeled the chakra upwards, feeling the light seeping in her mind, clouding her sight.

"See you someday."

Before he finished the last word of that sentence, a brilliance over his head made him look up. In the sky over the clearing, strands of chakra weaved like a spider's nest, of the diamond white and the ruby red of Sakura's chakra. A circle of pure light beaming from the jutsu came settling down. Inside the circle, around Sasuke and over Sakura, formed concentric rings, symbols filling the spaces in between. They shimmered blue, green, red before toning down into gray and then black. They started moving, before Sasuke's eyes, like ants and brushstrokes, quivering and crawling. Before he could move, they seeped into his skin, a sharp slash of black tearing into him, before it disappeared.

For Sakura it was good that her seal was quick. Even before Sasuke could retaliate against Sakura, the immense pain that tore through his body, making him drop and twist in agony. Sakura took the time, fumbling with the catch of her pocket, to draw out a kunai. And before Sasuke could recover from the temporary bind the seal had on his curse seal and body, the kunai was shaking-ly stabbed into his body. Sakura cried against his chest and stilling her self again she stabbed, knowing that one stroke could not finish it all.

Sasuke shook under attack and fell, legs buckling out. He tried to grasp Sakura's shoulders and push her away, but the dizziness and blur of sight made him want to vomit. he gasped, throat heaving. Blood began pouring out of him in spurts.

Sakura looked down. Feeling was draining quickly from her face. Her eyes grew cloudy. Her fingers touched the corner of Sasuke's face, feeling the subsiding rhythm of his breath. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

He was sightless. There was nothing above but darkness. His heart was beating erratically. It was all he could do to keep breathing. He felt the coldness of the fall ground seeping into his back. The pains of the curse seal were gone and he was slowly sinking into the void under grass and water and leaves. Up ahead, he felt the spraying of some one's tear and her words in his head.

"Don't..b-," he reached up again, but felt the dizziness claim him.

Sakura fell beside Sasuke. He was unconscious and slowly dying. She could've healed him if she wasn't so drained. She watched the light above and the playing of the tree's shadow.

The world was slowly spinning under her. She felt its rotation in the deep rumbles vibrating in her head. It was slowly stopping. The air above her seemed stifling and she felt as if she was lying on top of a dying planet. Her hands clenched the soil around her, holding her back to earth. Her breath seemed shortened; she was holding back the racketing tears in the back of her throat.

A noise nearby startled her. Something was groaning; someone was gasping and waking up. She dared not to hope; Sasuke was already dead. She lifted up her head and glanced hesitantly toward the source of that noise.

No; it was only Naruto, seemingly rising from the dead. Her head felt back and the tears were worming their way out.

Sakura heard the shuffling of feet that indicated Naruto had risen completely and was now coming to her.

"Sakura. Are you alright?" Naruto's steady face appeared above Sakura.

Sakura could barely murmur the word "yes." The tears were coming but they weren't splashing down. "Naruto. Give me some chakra."

Naruto glanced over her body at Sasuke. He slowly shook his head, his eyes closed against Sakura's pleading. "He's already dead."

Sakura thought she could feel the teardrops pricking her eyes. Before they dropped down, she fell unconscious.

"Sakura!" Naruto was adamant and tug her back. "What do you mean whatever?"

"It means that I really don't care anymore. Tsunade will probably kill Itachi tomorrow by her own means," Sakura stopped, hesitated for a second, and then walked forward.

"What? You forfeited?" Naruto looked amazed, his eyes were wide open and his mouth was left hanging.

"It's more like I wanted too much," Sakura smiled softly at Naruto. No, she was not going through this again. She wasn't going to bear that pain, the guilt. She used her hand to shut Naruto's mouth and smiled, this time more radiantly.

"Oh... Ok." Naruto had nothing else to say. He had noticed her smile. He saw how relaxed she looked after getting out of the administrative building. He wasn't about to ruin that.

"Naruto," Sakura looked at him.

"Yeah?" Naruto said.

"Why don't we go away for a week or two? You know...relax somewhere, go up to the mountains, visit our friends in Sand?" Sakura asked. She looked almost hopeful, but it left her face too quickly. "Oh, oh yeah. You have a team now. I guess that leaves no time then, eh?"

Naruto was silent.

"I'm sorry for asking. It wasn't fair of me," Sakura looked down. She started walking again.

Naruto quickly caught up to her. "No, it's alright. I'm overdue for a visit anyway. I'm really the only one that can get Gaara to agree to almost anything. It'll be nice."

"Really?" the smile he was hoping for returned. Sakura smiled, almost dazed with happiness. "Thank you."

Yeah. Anytime. And when we return everything will be better. I promise you. Naruto thought.

Sakura was too happy to notice the wistful gaze in Naruto's eyes. She jumped up and down for the first time in thirteen years. She hugged Naruto tightly before letting go.

"Come on! Let's go."

Upon Tsunade's desk, a hitae-ate laid precariously over the edge of Tsunade's desk. When she finally noticed the perilous situation, she scooted it over, failing to notice as the metal caught the full brilliance of the setting sun.


End file.
